Aristide Maillol

Estate of Dina Vierny, Paris

MK Fine Art, Inc., Palm Beach & New York

Acquired from the above on February 7, 2012 by the present owner

John Rewald, Maillol, Paris, 1939, illustration of the plaster pl. 67

Waldemar George, Aristide Maillol, London, 1965, illustration of the plaster p. 125

Bertrand Lorquin, Aristide Maillol, Paris, 1994, illustraton of the plaster p. 177

Ursel Berger & Jörg Zutter, Aristide Maillol, Berlin, 1996, illustration of the plaster p. 52

Bertrand Lorquin, Aristide Maillol, Paris, 2002, illustration of the plaster p. 177

This noble image of a woman rising from the water, her feet submerged beneath its surface, is Maillol's celebrated personification of the Ile-de-France. Allegory played an important role in Maillol's oeuvre, and here he has chosen to represent France's capital region with a pose similar to that of the classical Nike of Samothrace. Life in the Ile-de-France is reliant upon the Seine river and its tributaries, the Marne and Ouse, and Maillol's composition beautifully emphasizes the role of water as a sustaining element.

Maillol's most successful compositions are defined by their idealized rendering of the female body. As the embodiment of the strength and vigor for which this important region is known, Ile-de-France is perfectly proportioned and her pose beautifully captures the force of her movement as she strides through the water. Maillol's idea for this sculpture originated in 1910, and over the course of fifteen years he repeatedly refined his composition to best suit his allegorical theme. He also carved a marble version, now in the Musée du Louvre. While other variations of the sculpture include the figure's lower legs and feet, the present version is perhaps the most conceptually sophisticated, emphasizing the importance of the foundation from which she rises.